I assume that when you say "I made no profit" you mean you did not have any deals.

If you put down an earnest deposit, you might lose out on that if you decide to back out(potentially). look at the agreement.The more important thing is, do you quality for conventional financing?

For example North Carolina is $40,000 or less, Texas there is no limit, and so on.

-When a tenant moved out, the management company refunded their security deposit but failed to account for damage, such as holes in walls and outlets ripped off the walls, leaving me with repair bills and also tenants moving in without the repairs being done.Stuff like this that is consistent and when I ask questions they are defensive, when I ask for more quotes for high ticket items they are defensive. 

No issues with MTRs in duplexes, triplexes, and quads.

Each area has its own rules on how it works, but basically, you buy the house, pay a deposit and agree to rehab the house within a certain amount of time.

We embrace S8 applicants, but screen them just like any other applicant.Many have an entitlement mentality and try to leverage their S8 voucher by pretending to be helpless:1) A percentage won't apply because they expect a landlord to waive application fees for them.2) Many cry broke and expect a landlord NOT to charge them a security deposit.3) Many of those same S8 tenants trying to avoid paying a security deposit, won't make an effort to call the list of nonprofits we send them that will pay their security deposit if they apply.4) A lot of them try to avoid paying for utilities.

What do you do to ensure that the tenant is responsible for security deposit disputes since that is the largest reason for owner lawsuitsHow familiar are you with the newly changed laws that can affect you the owner if they are not used correctly?

No ash trays that I have found.

Obviously, they have no intention of following the law & I wouldn't count on them to adhere to your lease provisions, either.Don't get me wrong - I love dogs & my pit (who went through the big doggie door in the sky many years ago) was the best dog, ever!